Assembly Required
by MERDSWORTH
Summary: A past Jack hoped to leave behind finds him, threatening him and those he loves. In order to do what he does best, protect, he makes some decisions that Mac doesn't know he can live with.
1. Chapter 1

Bozer moved within the kitchen like water, stirring his gravy, checking the temperature on his roast, cutting the vegetables. Music blasted throughout the house on Mac's homemade stereo and he couldn't help but dance among the aromas of his feast. He saw Mac moving in the corner of his eye; he was supposed to be cleaning but instead kept getting distracted by his random inventions and knickknacks around the house. Bozer shook his head when the doorbell rang.

"Yo, Mac!" He hollered over the old rock song but failed to get his friend's attention. "Mac, I got a roast on, can you get that?" The doorbell rang again. Nothing from the blonde who finally scooped up his trinkets into his arms and moved them back into his study. Bozer turned down the heat on the stove before turning the music off with his elbows and running to the door. "Hello and happy fourth of—" he froze when no one was there but a large box on their doorstep. Bozer stepped outside yet saw no one nearby. He heaved the package inside.

"What's that?" Mac came out, oblivious.

"I don't know," he placed it down and saw no address on it. "That's a little weird isn't it?" Mac responded by silently ushering him away. "What you think it's a bomb or something?!" Bozer retreated into the safety of his kitchen.

"Can't be too sure." Mac almost seemed thrilled by the challenge. He bent down to inspect the old cardboard closer. "You did move it, so it's safe to say it's not motion activated."

"Amazing," Bozer was ducking behind the island. "Can you at least move it outside then?" Mac ignored him and took out his pocket knife to begin carefully slicing open the tape on top. "Mac!" Bozer gasped and Mac simply grinned.

"Calm down,"

"Mac, you don't tell someone a bomb's been dropped off at their house and then tell them to be calm! You don't do that!"

"Well, it's a good thing that you live with someone who used to diffuse them for a living." Mac slowly pried open the flaps; he immediately relaxed.

"What?" Bozer also approached. "That's no bomb. What is it?"

"First guess," he picked up one of the pieces. "I'd say parts to some kind of gun." He delicately ruffled through the package of old metal springs, gears, and plates until one caught his eye, the recoil pad that would've been placed against the gunner's shoulder. Bozer watched his friend's face grow pale.

"Mac, what's wrong?" He moved around until he saw what Mac was seeing, though even then he still didn't understand. "JWD…Winni…some kind of spy code I don't know about yet?"

"Those are Jack's initials." Mac let Bozer take it and move it around in his hands.

"What are his initials doing on a piece of a gun in this random ass box?"

"Because this is his gun…his sniper from Afghanistan."

"I feel like you're making sense Mac, but I'm still lost."

"Winni was what he named his rifle."

"So, what's it doing here?"

"I don't know. He didn't bring it home with him." Mac sighed, trying to wrack his brain around what this could mean when the pot on the stove suddenly began to boil over.

"My gravy!" Bozer's voice went high and he sprinted back into the kitchen when Matty, and Jack's muscle car, pulled up outside. Mac panicked and quickly closed the box, shoving it into the nearest closet when Jack, Riley, and Matty walked themselves inside. Mac quickly locked eyes with Bozer, who still held the piece of the sniper with Jack's initials. He ended up showing it into the cabinet just as he put on a huge smile for their guests. "Welcome, welcome,"

"Bozer, it smells good." Matty smiled and hugged him.

"Happy fourth of July." Bozer then hugged Riley and gaze a loose, handshake-hug to Jack.

"Thanks man." Jack reached out and fist-bumped Mac, the two needing no other greeting. Within minutes, everyone had beers in their hands and they were sitting outside on the patio, waiting for Bozer to come serve them. "I still think we should've had a barbeque, man." Jack sighed. "It's not a true American holiday if there aren't hamburgers and hot dogs."

"Well here we're more refined than that." Bozer said from inside.

"Yeah, yeah…" Jack swigged more beer.

"You okay, Mac?" Riley sat down beside him as the blonde was making it his goal to sit far from the rest of the ground. "You're kind of quiet."

"I'm fine," he put on a smile. "Just enjoying the company."

"Oh yeah, from all the way over here?" She nudged him playfully. He scoffed, then his eyes fell on Jack as he joked with Matty and that acidic pit rose up in his stomach again. "—Mac" He snapped back only to hear Riley's voice rising with worry.

"Sorry, I stayed up late last night, guess I didn't sleep as much as I thought I did." He sighed, bringing the cold beer to his lips. Riley bent her mouth into a skeptic line but said no more as Boze stepped outside with platters of food, and like that the day moved into a leisurely night. The air was warm and the sky clear as the sunset settled over L.A. The Phoenix group enjoyed the holiday evening with laughter, jokes, stories, and beer. Bozer was in the middle of telling a particularly embarrassing story about Mac from high school, one he could barely tell in between laughs.

"So, wait, wait, wait," he tried to hush the crowd as well as himself. "Mac forgot that the cheerleading team practiced in the gym on Thursdays, so he walked in thinking he could make a break for the showers," even Mac, who was struggling to keep his face from growing red, enjoyed the memory. Then Jack stood.

"Hold that thought Bozer, if I don't get a glass of water I think I'm going to start coughing up blood or something." He held his side as it burned from laughter.

"Gross Jack," Riley groaned, downing more beer.

"Dalton, if I have to wait more than sixty seconds before I hear the rest of this story, you're fired." Matty ordered.

"Fine, jeez…" Jack sauntered inside. While he was gone, night began to fall, and the air grew cold, yet Mac stoked the bonfire until it radiated enough to keep them warm.

"That's it, Dalton is officially fired." Matty grumbled, crossing her arms. Mac laughed when he suddenly recalled the package. He stood, hands in his pockets.

"I should go make sure he didn't fall and hurt himself." He slipped inside only to find Jack frozen in the kitchen, the recoil pad in his hands. Mac saw how tense he was, how he stared at his initials carved into it, though his mind was obviously somewhere else.

" _Are you even allowed to do that?" Mac lounged in the bed of the Humvee, it being a particularly slow day in the Sandbox. He watched his partner carve into the butt of his rifle with an old knife. "Don't you have to return that soon or something?"_

" _I've been with Winni for longer than I can remember…" Jack trailed off as he went back to focusing, struggling to properly curve the D for Dalton._

" _You can't remember past three months?" Mac scoffed, rolling a paperclip between his fingers._

" _No sir, Winni's been mine for every mission I've ever had in this army. They saved her from my Delta days." Jack grinned. "I watch your back and she watches mine."_

" _It's a gun, Jack." Mac sighed and sprawled out more in the bed, like a lazy cat in the sun._

" _That's what you think…when you're stuck out in the desert, it's dark out, enemy fire raining down on you, the only thing keeping you alive is your weapon…I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for this gun. You wouldn't be here either."_

" _Agree to disagree." Mac lifted the gun he made from his paperclip and showed it to Jack who simply shrugged, unimpressed, and then went back to carving._

"Jack," Mac kept his voice quiet, trying not to startle him. The whistle from fireworks outside rose into the air until it exploded, echoing throughout the home. Mac flinched as he watched Jack reach for his fire arm, his whole-body tense with fear. "Hey," Mac moved towards him, careful to keep his motion slow as Jack's eyes struggled to recognize anything in the dark house. Another rocket went up, and Mac reached forward and grabbed Jack's pistol before it was able to go off. When it did, Jack jumped and tried to smack Mac with his weapon but was instead wrapped up into a swift headlock from behind. "Jack, calm down." Mac whispered as his friend tried to squirm out; it took all of Mac's strength to control the bigger man. "Jack!" He snapped, keeping his voice low to avoid the others hearing. Jack suddenly started gasping and shaking, his knees buckled, and Mac helped him to the ground, leaning him against the cabinets on the island. "It's okay…you're okay…" He put his hand on Jack's shoulder as his friend tried to catch his breath, his eyes screwed shut and the rifle piece was still tight in his grip.

"Mac…" Jack whimpered when more fireworks began to go off outside.

"Yo, slowpokes, hurry up!" They heard Bozer holler as the three of them cheered. Each rocket lit the inside of the house in different colors like a strobe light, each one lighting up more fear on Jack's face.

"It's okay…" Mac's worry grew as Jack failed to slow down his breathing.

"What is this?" It sounded as if he was about to break down as he held up the rifle piece. "How…" He trailed off as another boom brought the sight of the Sandbox before his eyes. He closed them again, trying to squeeze the image out of his brain.

"I'll explain later, but for now let's get you somewhere you can calm down." Mac tried to get him to stand when he pushed of his hands.

"I'm fine," Jack's voice rattled.

"Jack," Mac groaned against his stubbornness. He sighed and plopped a hand down onto his shoulder, feeling the older man's pulse against his fingers. He sighed again and then pulled Jack into a tight hug, the man immediately reciprocated, and Mac then found himself struggling to breath as Jack pulled on his shirt, as if Mac was a stress ball. "It's okay," he held him and could feel the piece of the rifle dig into his back as Jack continued to hold it.

"Yo, Mac, come on—" Bozer had skipped inside when he saw the scene before him. He caught Mac's gaze who, while concerned, conveyed control of the situation. More fireworks broke in the sky, and Bozer saw Jack's PTSD before him, shattering a jolly bad-ass into a small, shivering victim. Then, Bozer saw the piece of gun in Jack's hand illuminated by a green rocket; the color faded, leaving them in the dark, and Bozer read Mac's face. He nodded and skipped back outside, suddenly keeping the other two ladies busy. Mac soon felt Jack ease up as he released him and went back to leaning against the cabinets. He was still shaking, his breathing still uneven, but his mind seemed to have recovered from the visions of the past. Mac made himself comfortable, giving him time to collect himself enough to speak.

"You said you don't know anything about this?" He delicately ran his thumb over the letters.

"Just showed up today. Not long before you showed up."

"Just this?" Jack's eyes looked big and brown in the little light there.

"…Yeah, just that." Mac swallowed the lie, stretching his legs out as he sat across from Jack on the floor. "I think you should stay here tonight Jack."

"What, worried I'm just gonna go home and cry to myself like a little girl?" Jack's attempt at joking didn't go over well; he glanced up only to find Mac scolding him with his eyes. "Sorry, I know, not the time…"

"I'm just saying Jack. Either you stay here tonight or I'm going to your place…I'm going to let you be alone after this episode."

"You say that like this is such a common occurrence."

"I may have seen more than you would've cared to let on." Mac smirked.

"Well, that's just great." Jack knocked his head back on the cabinet door.

"Oh, here," Mac reached behind his belt and pulled out the other man's pistol. "I figured you must've not realized I swiped it from you." Mac quickly pulled it away when Jack reached out for it. "You're good right? I don't have to worry about you coming to kill me tonight?" Jack ripped the gun from his hands and holstered it.

"I don't know, maybe if you keep looking at me like that…"

"Well, come on." Mac pulled himself up by the counter top and slapped Jack's shoulder.

"I actually, may go lie down…" Jack sighed. "Your room open?"

"Yeah man, it's all yours. I'll go tell everyone you couldn't handle your booze or something."

"I don't know if that's any better." Jack scoffed. Mac left him to go steal the attention of everyone outside, hopefully steer the conversation before anyone other than Boze got suspicious. He accepted a beer from Bozer and sat down between them before the fire.

"Jack okay?" Riley asked.

"Yeah he's fine, wasn't feeling well."

"Baby," Matty grumbled, finishing another one off.

"Matty, I know you're my boss and all…and you're more than capable of taking care of yourself, but maybe you should slow down." Riley watched with a impressed smile. Matty scoffed and put her drink down.

"I'm cold." She declared.

"Aren't you supposed to feel warmer when you're drun—" Bozer quickly stopped himself. "Drinking…"

"Want me to put another log on the fire?" Mac offered.

"I'm just going to grab a blanket from inside." She stood and left them for the darkness of the living room. "Jack…" Matty was taken aback, though her tone was more accusatory than anything. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, uh better." Jack was sitting on the couch in the dark, something in his hands.

"You missed the fireworks." Matty walked around the side of the couch to look him over.

"Don't worry, I heard…" Jack's voice almost whimpered, but he tried to keep calm.

"Where does Mac keep extra blankets?" Matty started to go through the living room like a storm.

"I got it," Jack stood up and went to the closet where he pulled one off the top shelf. He handed it to his boss who snatched it with a smile and returned outside. She closed the sliding door behind her, the voices of everyone outside becoming muffled. Jack was staring out at the flickering flames of the bonfire, tempted to rejoin them; he turned to close the closet and do so when an opened package got his eyes. He slowly kneeled and pulled the box out for more light when he saw the pieces inside. With a shaking hand, he lifted the old scope of his sniper, Winni.

Jack recognized every piece in that box, knew where every part went, what it felt like, smelled like, how it worked. He sat down and started to assemble it out of sheer instinct and habit. His mind fell blank as the springs and gears tightened, as it took shape in his hands. Jack sped up as more parts disappeared from the box and attached itself to the rifle. It didn't matter that he was in the dark, that his body was still shaking from before, that he hadn't seen Winni in years. She was here, in his arms. Jack stood with the weight of the completed gun. It's like he never left.

"Jack?" Bozer had walked into the room from outside. Jack spun around, so startled that he almost aimed the rile at him. They stood there, frozen, Bozer surprisingly calm; he knew Jack could never harm him. "You found the box."

"You knew about this?" Jack felt betrayed, and he didn't lower the gun. "Mac said—"

"That package came today. Mac saw your initials, knew it was yours, he didn't know how it got here so he hid it." Bozer explained, guilt rising as he saw how confused and terrified Jack looked in the little light coming inside.

"This is impossible, Bozer, you know that don't you? I left this over _there_ , and I thought it'd would stay there! Everything was supposed to stay over there." Jack's anger sent Bozer stepping back into the closed door.

"We'll figure this out Jack…" Bozer watched Jack slowly move towards the door to the front of the house. "Let me get Mac and—"

"Bozer, I love you, but I can't let you get Mac or Riley or Matty because they won't be able to do a damn thing about this…" Jack felt his throat tightening, burning. Meanwhile, Bozer had started to reach for the sliding door, to maybe get someone's attention when Jack fully aimed the rifle at him; he didn't need the scope at this rang, but the barrel was pointed at Bozer's chest. "There was a note in that box." Jack's voice cracked and Bozer finally felt afraid of him. "And I can't stay here." Jack glanced to the three outside, to Mac. He knew why Mac hadn't told him, why he lied. Jack understood, because he would've done the same thing to protect him. "Now, Bozer, when I leave, I'm going to need your word that you're not going to go tell them." Bozer's mouth twitched as Jack read his mind. "Bozer."

"Jack, I—" Before Bozer could finish Jack was halfway out the door. The former Delta commander slipped away in the night, leaving silence, fear, and dread left in the house.


	2. Chapter 2

"Riley, can you take Matty home, please?" Mac was pacing through the living room.

"Did you forget who you're talking to?" Matty did that thing where she titled her head slightly and pointed her finger in Mac's direction as if it held the power of a gun.

"I'd send all of you away if I could, but Bozer you live here." Mac ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm not going to claim authority here, but we all know Jack, we all love him, and you don't have say who gets to help him!" Riley yelled at MacGyver from across the room. "What happened, Bozer?" Riley locked eyes with Mac.

"The package came to the house before you all got here. Inside were the parts from Jack's service rifle."

"I hid it in the closet." Mac added.

"…And Jack went in there to grab me a blanket…" Matty realized her guilt in this situation.

"When I came inside Jack had it built…and then he left…"

"He didn't say anything else?" Riley asked. Bozer ran his hands down his neck, trying to process everything.

"He said there was a note in the box!" He gasped. Mac wasted no time rushing over to the box still in the closet.

"Why would Jack leave it behind?" Matty wondered.

"Maybe he wants us to follow him?" Riley remained hopeful.

"Because he knew we wouldn't be able to understand it." Mac sighed, the note in hand. He turned the small piece of paper to the group yet there were only strange symbols written on it. "It's the Dalphabet."

"That's not the alphabet, Mac." Bozer was shaking his head.

"He didn't misspeak," Matty lectured. "The Dalphabet was designed by Delta Force soldiers so they could communicate incognito."

"No one knows it but them." Mac sighed again.

"Well that's a clue, isn't it? That means that whoever sent this has to have connections with Delta?" Riley explained. "Maybe this isn't malicious…"

"Let's not jump to any conclusion, Ri," Mac said.

"Says the guy who was about to kick everyone out of his house." Riley snapped. She quickly collected her things. "I'm taking a cab and going to Jack's place,"

"Riley," Matty stopped her only to toss her keys over. "You drive, I'm coming with you." The women left, slamming the door behind them. Bozer stood there the dark beside Mac; he felt the frustration radiating off his best friend. He went over to turn on the light.

"You okay?" Bozer saw how Mac stared at the note; it shook in his hands. "Mac?"

"I need to call Jack." Mac pulled his phone out, stuffing the note in his pocket. It rang in his ear.

Jack was in his apartment, throwing everything of importance into a duffle bag. It was dark outside and every so often the echo of distant fireworks reached his ears, but none of that mattered now. He moved through his rooms when he heard his cell ringing on the counter. Jack threw rounds of ammo into his bag and grabbed it—it was Mac. He stared at the name and his hand shook as he refused to accept the call.

He silenced it and shoved the phone into his back pocket. The last thing he needed to grab from his room was his box of fake ID's from his spy days and Winni, currently resting on his bed. Jack returned to his living room where he proceeded to grab the cigar box from his shelf. Inside he removed his father's dog tags and hung them on the wall, he then took his own. Jack stared at the metal necklace, his name carved in, rust and dirt imbedded into the edges after years of facing the elements. He no longer needed them. Jack hung his tag on the wall right beside his father's. He then went to his bag, zipped it up, and threw that and his rifle over his shoulder when there was a knock on his door.

For a moment, he hoped it was Riley, she would've been a nice face to see, to say goodbye too. Jack put his hand on the door handle and took a deep breath to run over what he would even tell her, when the door broke over and knocked him in the head. Dazed, and pinned down by the door, Jack heard someone come in. The door was then thrown off him and his attacker grabbed pulled out a pistol, yet Jack reacted quick enough and kicked the weapon out of the man's hands. He then looked for his rifle which had skid off to the other side of the room. Jack scrambled on all fours to reach it when he was slammed into the floor when the man kneed him in the back. Jack tried to reach around and elbow his attacker, but this only enticed more weight to bear down on his back and neck.

"Who are you?" Jack tried to speak though the stranger said nothing. "Fine, you don't want to play nice." He fumbled around into his duffle bag, the man trying to pin him down further, until Jack grabbed the hilt of his combat knife. It came out swinging. The attacker's lower left side got sliced open by the blade, yet the force of Jack's swing was enough to send a painful jolt through his left shoulder. He grunted while turned over onto his back which gave him the leverage to kick the intruder off. Both men separated in the room, Jack back on his feet, neither with a gun. "I'm going to give you one more chance to get out of my house." His breathing was heavy, but the cocky grin was there on the ex Delta's face. The stranger said nothing. They stood in gridlock until one moved. Jack lounged for his rifle on the floor and the other man countered by charging him and slamming him into the wall. The air was knocked out of him and the pain in his shoulder echoed out into his body. The stranger started to press him forearm against Jack's throat, chocking the air out. Jack felt a blackness close in around his vision when he felt his knife pressing against his leg, still in his grip. With his remaining strength Jack thrust the knife up into the stranger's abdomen, then he ripped it out as the stranger stumbled back and shoved it up underneath his jaw. He held it there, warm blood running down his hand and arm. He held it there until he saw the familiar cloud of death roll into the intruder's eyes. When the knife came out, the body collapsed with a deep thud.

Jack took a shaking breath in. He noticed how little remorse he felt, his insides like a hollow shell. He then regathered his things, slung Winni over his shoulder, and rushed out of his apartment without even bothering to clean himself. In his car, his cell continued to ring on the passenger seat, Mac's name as the caller ID. Jack wanted to pick up but simply gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Soon Mac stopped calling and that hurt more than Jack driving out of LA and leaving them behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Matty and Riley hurried up the outside stairs to Jack's apartment, neither having prepared what they would say the man when they found him. They were approaching his door when Riley paused. She turned to her boss whose face was still slightly flushed from the night.

"Maybe I should do the talking," she said.

"What you think I'm not comforting enough?" Matty instinctually scoffed, but immediately realized her tone and averted her gaze. "Okay, maybe you're right."

"Okay," Riley sighed, turning back around and moving down the hallway when she saw Jack's door already open, rather the door was completely broken off its hinges. "Jack!" She ran inside only to be meet with a sight that made her stomach twist. "Oh god…" She covered her mouth as she gazed out at the man lying in a pool of blood. Matty was quickly by her side, slipping past to begin examining the crime scene.

"It's okay, Riley, it's not him." Matty said, trying her best to bury the sickening sight in a bed of rationalism.

"Do you think he came for Jack?" Riley's voice was meek. She walked around the apartment only to find things broken from the struggle or missing all together. Then her cell rang, it was Mac. "Mac," she picked up.

"Riley, Jack's not picking up!" Mac said.

"We're at his apartment…there's a dead guy here. Jack probably killed…"

"Stay there Riley, we're coming over."

"Mac," Riley walked over to the wall beside the TV. Reaching out with shaking hands, she gently lifted the dog tags into her palms. "His dog tags are here…" She heard Mac freeze on the other end, then Bozer's voice came through as he tried to usher Mac into the jeep. "There's nothing wrong with them, they're just here, next to his dad's." Still nothing. "Mac?"

"We're coming over." He abruptly hung up. Riley turned to Matty who had her own phone in her hand, though she seemed conflicted about dialing.

"I'm supposed to call this in." Matty mumbled under her breath.

"The police?"

"No," she looked up at Riley, her eyes almost red with tears. "A rogue agent."

"Matty, no," a knot welled up into Riley's throat as tears of her own formed. "Jack's not rogue, he's just in trouble and he needs us."

"We don't know that Riley." Matty was almost trying to convince herself.

"But we know Jack! And we know he wouldn't do something if it would hurt someone else!"

"Are you hurt now?" Matty's voice cut through her as her eyes grew sharp. "Riley." Tears ran down Riley's cheeks as she covered her mouth again to muffle her cry. Then a moment passed, and she composed herself as anger brought her back.

"Matty, I don't care what protocol is right now. I don't care whatever Jack did to you in the past. I don't care about what you think you need to do. I just want to find Jack!" Matty put her phone away and walked over to Riley, hugged her as she collapsed to her knees.

"He's okay." She said. "Jack Dalton doesn't go down easily."

"I know."

"And I'll calm someone to deal with this…but I won't say anything else…I'll put out a search request for him." She wrapped her arms around Riley's neck. "We'll find him."

The morning came before any of them were ready. Bozer walked up the stairs and sat down next to Riley, their legs were dangling of platform of the fire escape, arms wrapped around the bars. He handed her the coffee.

"Sorry it took so long."

"Thanks," she took it, though couldn't find the appetite to drink it.

"Any news yet?"

"I got my laptop running inside, searching the database for the intruder. A lab goon is in there, he's supposed to tell me when there's a match…if there's a match."

"You're telling me that you trust someone else to work your rig?"

"No," Riley chuckled. She pressed her forehead against one of the metal bars and looked at Bozer. "But Matty sent me out here to get some air." Bozer put his arm around her before both fell silent and gazed out as the rest of the world began its day.

Inside, Mac was sitting on Jack's favorite chair. Around him the bustle of the technicians turned into white noise as they searched the crime scene. Matty finished up speaking with a detective over by the kitchen when she noticed Mac, how the blonde looked as if the world was collapsing down onto him. She shooed any multiple techs who came to her with questions and crossed over to Mac. He didn't notice her as he held Jack's dog tags in his hands, turning them over as if trying to find some clue that they were fake, that he didn't leave them behind.

 _They were walking from the showers back into the barracks: Jack sat down on the bottom bunk and began taking his shoes off while Mac half climbed up to his bed on top. He stopped halfway before swinging himself down, a cheeky grin on his face._

" _What?" Jack groaned, tired after a long day. He didn't even need to look at Mac to feel the question coming._

" _You like those, don't you?"_

" _Like what?" Jack stowed his boots and socks away underneath his bed and collapsed back on to his old mattress, arms crossed over his face._

" _Your dog tags." Mac motioned to the silver necklaces moving up and down on Jack's brawny chest._

" _Of course, I like them. I have to." He groaned again. Mac moved his tongue around before heaving himself up onto his bed, the springs creaking as he did. Moments later he leaned over the edge and down at Jack._

" _But you wash them, you always have them, sometimes when you zone out you just hold them." Jack was silent as if feigning sleep when he eventually sighed and moved his arms to be sitting up._

" _Listen, Angus," he stretched out the name. "I know you're new to this and all, but this isn't my first rodeo, and after all of this is said and done I'd like to make it home to Texas…whether it's on my own two feet…or in a box. These things," he lifted up the chain. "Will help me do that."_

" _Guess I never thought of it that way." Mac said thoughtfully._

" _Look kid, getting blown up—that's something that I just a worry I have to deal with to do my job. If I have to worry about not be recognized, being some skull in some unmarked grave, people back home never knowing what happened to me because they don't know who I am…that's not something I want to deal with."_

"… _Sorry I asked."_

" _No, you're okay kid."_

" _If it means anything, I'm going to try really hard not to get you blown up." Mac joked to lighten the mood. Jack put his arms back over his head to block the light of the rest of the barrack and chuckled._

"Mac…" Matty's voice finally reached his ears and he looked up at her. "Talk to me,"

"I don't know why he would ever leave these." He ran his thumb over his friend's name. "Jack loved these everywhere. Over in the Sandbox it sometimes felt like he cared about these things more than himself… 'Oh I'm fine Mac, just some shrapnel in me, but tell me did my dog tags make it out?'" Mac had a horrendous southern, Jack-accent; it made him chuckled and then shudder as emotions swelled.

"I know. It was painful getting him to take them off in the CIA, a job where you have to lose your identity in order to survive. I argued with him about it on almost every mission." Matty smiled when Mac did as they both remembered Jack's stubbornness.

"It has to mean something that they're here." Mac clutched them in his hand. "Jack is trying to tell me something, I just don't know what it is yet…" He delicately put them into his pocket along with the note when a man came up to Matty, holding out a phone.

"General Monroe for you, ma'am." Matty took the call just as Riley's rig dinged. Mac ran over, Riley and Bozer running inside.

"We got someone," she began to decipher the result.

"Who is he? Some evil super spy, a terrorist, a ninja?!" Bozer grew excited.

"Matthew Horton…he's a nobody." She was taken aback.

"What do you mean?" Mac leaned into the screen.

"I mean he's none of those things. Matthew was in the army for a little bit, but he got out when he could, has been working the states since."

"Doing what?"

"Carpentry," Riley looked up at them.

"What's an ex-soldier carpenter doing dead in Jack's apartment?" Bozer asked.

"I think the real question is, why was an ex-solider carpenter trying to kill Jack?" Mac added. "Ri is there anything else you can find on him?"

"His family history seems normal, he had an older brother in the military too…Delta Forces…" She froze before beginning to type furiously, bringing up any files should could. "Ethan Horton went MIA in 2005, it was suspected he was captured but there was no proof and no search teams could find a trail. It looks like a lot of Delta guys went MIA then…"

"There aren't that many of them at a time." Mac watched as Riley pulled up information concerning the whole squadron.

"There's Jack," Riley brought up an old photo of Jack standing seriously beside six other men; a second photo had them all laughing with their arms over each other's shoulders. "And there's Ethan." The man was standing one over from Jack, wearing shades and striking a rock pose with his rifle.

"What's the news?" Matty suddenly came over.

"That man over there is Matthew Horton," Bozer said. "Was in the army for one tour before coming home."

"That's it?"

"His brother was Delta Forces with Jack." Riley added.

"Well that's something." Matty sighed before turning to Mac. "We all need to head back to Phoenix, I have General Monroe meeting us, hopefully he can decipher that note."

"Matty, how much do you know about Jack when he was in Delta?" Mac asked.

"Well blondie, I thought that'd be more of your department."

"Guess not…" He sighed.

"Come on," Matty left with Riley as they drove to Phoenix HQ, Mac and Bozer following behind them, and Bozer took it upon himself to check up on Mac's state of being.

"So, how are you holding up?"

"I'll be a lot better when we have some answers."

"Yeah, me too…hey, remember the first time you were coming home after being in the army?"

"It was around Christmas, you had already moved into my grandfather's house," Mac smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, and you said you were bringing Jack home." Bozer gasped. "I felt like a father hearing his daughter tell him he was suddenly bringing home a fiancée!" Mac smirked. "Remember how you warned me—you said that he was going act like he knew me his whole life and just to roll with it."

"…Never mention the NY Giants, and when in doubt talk about Die Hard." Mac laughed.

"You told me that he may look scary, like he could kill me in a second, which you told me he could—that terrified me by the way—but that he was actually a big softie on the inside." Bozer said. "And everyone of those words were true." Mac looked at him as his tone grew more serious. "I was so happy to see you man, it felt like years. I remember you walking through that front door still looking like a high schooler, yet there was something different still…I could tell you saw some stuff over there." They stopped at a red light. "And I was nervous because you didn't seem to smile as much as you used to, but then Jack came in and you smiled with him. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little jealous at first, but you got used to me again by the end of the night."

"You've never told me this before."

"Yeah well, regardless of how I felt about Jack when I first met him, by the time he left that night I was nothing but grateful. He not only kept you alive and brought you home, but he made sure your humanity was intact too."

"He did,"

"That's why I'm not worried, Mac, I know I haven't known Jack as long as any of you, but I know he's not the type of person to do bad things unless they're for good reasons, like whatever he does to keep us safe."

"Thanks, Bozer…I think you're right, I just wished he'd say something…that'd he'd trust me…maybe let me protect him like he protects me."

The airport was old, rundown, the asphalt of the runways had long since cracked under the Californian sun, and Jack sat there with his back against the metal side platting of an old shake. He had his knees up against his chest and Winni wrapped in his arms. The sun was just beginning to rise, forcing him to squint as he scanned the area for anyone. Hours passed, and he felt his stomach growl; he began to regret not bringing food with him.

" _What are you looking for?" Mac gazed up from the IED he was working on. The two were currently down an alley, Mac had rummaged through some garbage and found it while Jack was up on a second-story balcony, scanning the area with his sniper scope._

" _Anything," he mumbled._

" _What's anything?"_

" _How about you focus on not getting us blown up and I'll focus on not getting us shot."_

" _If you say so." Mac shook his head and returned to focusing on the explosive. Minutes passed, and Mac had successfully exposed all wires of the bomb, he was beginning to figure out which wires had to be cut. Jack suddenly began to climb up the second story of the building until he reached the roof. "Jack?" Mac called up to him, his heart beginning to beat faster._

" _You stay there, I need to check something out." With a higher vantage point he could scope out a suspicious group of men sauntering down a block away, staying close to one another. "Mac," Jack now spoke into the closed communication walkie-talkie strapped to his vest. "If you could hurry up, that would save me a whole lot of trouble."_

" _And not blowing up would save me a whole lot of trouble. You can't rush these things…" Mac snapped back, sweat running down his face from the heat. He snipped the first wire. Jack called out from him place atop the roof:_

" _That's far enough boys," he spoke to the group of five men who were now moving towards the alley Mac was tucked into. Jack made sure to show off his rifle to them, though they seemed unamused with Jack's presence. One of them stepped forward to speak to him._

" _That's funny, because from down here it looks like you're the one that's gone far enough." Jack laughed at him. "That house doesn't belong to you, this city doesn't belong to you, so how about you just get out!"_

" _Oh, and it belongs to you?" Jack watched as some of the other men noticed Mac down the alley way, finishing to disarm the bomb. They started to approach him until Jack fired a warning shot at their feet, the boom ricocheting off the walls of the alley. "I told you to stop." Jack was now aiming at them through his scope from above. Some of the men reacted by pulling out weapons of their own._

" _Woah, easy," Mac threw his arms up to show them that he only had his plyers out. "I'm disarming an IED!"_

" _Let's see it." One man said._

" _I can't move it, it's still armed!" Mac exclaimed._

" _You don't need to see anything, you just need to leave." Jack threatened again. "I'm not going to ask nicely the next time." Mac wanted to say something to Jack to help deescalate the situation, but he knew better than to do that now. "…Mac, keep disarming that thing, I got these guys." Jack ordered, and warily Mac turned his back on them to finish working on the bomb, trusting Jack with his protection. The five men below them looked up at Jack and locked eyes furiously until Mac finished disarming the bomb._

"Jack Dalton?" An older man was standing before him, shades on, chewing gum obnoxiously.

"Yeah,"

"How was the ride?" The man stood there, shadows blocking his face. Jack was unamused and didn't respond. "I'm Hanz,"

"You don't sound like a Hanz."

"And what does a Hanz sound like?" The man asked.

"…Schwarzenegger?" Jack mumbled. Hanz shrugged and nodded, chuckling as he reached into his jacket pocket. The ex-Delta commander leaned back into the metal siding as exhaustion from the long ride to Oregon airport weighed him down. "Do you have anything else to say to me?"

"Excuse me?" Hanz's dark eyebrows arched over his shades.

"How'd you write that note, get me this gun?" Jack's voice deepened as he subtly put one finger on his sniper's trigger, yet this only elicited a sardonic chuckle from the other man.

"I didn't write the note." His words brought a heavy silence down on the small runway as Jack realized what was happening, but it was too late. That silence was suddenly cracked open as a bullet pierced his left shoulder. The force threw him further back into the shack and he felt the vibrations electrocute him as the bullet embedded itself into the metal behind him. Winni fell out of his lap when his right hand rushed up to try and plug the wound; the sniper clanked against the dried asphalt and Jack bent over it on his knees, trying to catch his breath from the surprise shot. "Sorry," Hanz wasn't sorry. "They told me to distract you or else you'd see them." Hanz took out a small pistol of his own, aiming it down at Jack to deter him from doing anything rash.

"And who's they?" He breathed heavily.

"Just some people who want to see you suffer." Hanz looked over his shoulder as another man began to walk out from the old ticket office of the tiny airport, a military grade rifle resting over right shoulder. He sauntered over, the morning light breaking over the tall pine trees surrounding them and revealing his identity to Jack.

"Aiden?" Jack's voice cracked, his body cringing, causing a sharp pain to shoot out from his shoulder. He looked up at the young man with black hair and black eyes, with scars etched deep into his face and visible skin on his body.

"Hi Jack," Aiden knelt to be closer to the older man. There was no emotion on his face, it could've been made of stone, but his eyes failed to hide a silent rage, silent betrayal. "I was happy to see you made it back to the States. I was happy to find out that you were healthy…happy."

"Aiden…I—"

"Come on, Jack—we're long past apologies." A cruel grin crept onto his face. "What'd you do with that guy who attacked you in your apartment?" Aiden read the regret off Jack's face and laughed. "Figured. Do you know who that was?"

"No." Jack grunted.

"Ethan's little brother." Aiden smiled when he saw Jack's eyes well up; the man had to shut them and look away to control himself. "I know, sucks." The Asian man reached out and dug his thumb into Jack's wound. Rage boiled up as he watched Jack writhe, the older man locking his screams of pain deep in his throat. "Stay awake," Aiden released his old commander and slapped him on his cheek with bloodied fingers. "I had to." Aiden stood, collecting Winni and his own rifle before signaling to Hanz to grab Jack and follow, and then he began to walk away.

"…I'm sorry…" Jack's voice was barely a whisper though it was enough to stop Aiden. The young man froze and took a deep, shaking breath.

"I know." He said.


	4. Chapter 4

Mac did his best to minimize his pacing; he confined it to the back of the briefing room while the general Matty called in explained to them the contents of the secret note stood up front. Monroe was hesitant at first, wary as to why this seemingly random government agency had the note in their possession in the first place. Matty explained to him what she could, mainly how it affected Jack.

"I was wondering where Jack ended up." He had smiled, accepting the note from Mac. When Monroe had taken it from the blonde he had read the worry in his eyes. "What kind of trouble has he gotten himself into?"

"Hopefully not much," Mac responded solemnly. "But that's where you come in." Monroe understood Mac's statement once he looked down and saw what code the letter was written in. He took a seat and put on his glasses to begin deciphering, and that's when Mac began pacing.

"There's not much to it." Monroe sighed, gazing down at the random symbols. "Mainly a coordinate, some vague references to something that happened….and then another coordinate."

"Two sets?" Riley had her laptop open. "What are they?" She put them in as the general read them aloud. "Okay, the first on it a remote location up in Oregon and the other is _also_ a remote location over in Afghanistan."

"The Deltas are no strangers to Afghanistan." Monroe commented.

"Sir," Boozer finally spoke up. "Did you know a Delta solider named Ethan Horton?"

"I knew him." Monroe's face went cold. "He was under Jack's command for some time."

"What happened to him?"

"The job." He responded gruffly. "…MIA, like everyone else in his squad…everyone except for Jack." Monroe spoke again before the silence brought on a barrage of questions. "Jack was new to the Delta Force, but his experience made him an ideal commander. He didn't appreciate it at first, didn't think he was ready, and, despite everything that happened, he certainly was."

"What did happen?" Riley was almost scared to hear.

"They were ambushed in the mountains, most of them separated and wounded, and when Jack came to he couldn't find his team, couldn't find their trail or bodies. By the time support got to them there was not much we could do, the trail went cold."

"They were captured?" Mac gasped.

"Most likely." Monroe breathed heavily, holding in memories. "They were never found, dead or alive." He ran his fingers over his wrinkled knuckles.

"What did Jack do after that?" Mac asked. He felt his hands shaking: there was nothing he could do, nothing he could build or invent that would fix this situation. He could only listen to old war stories and try to put together the pieces of a past his friend has obviously buried dead.

"After medical, and some psych evals, Jack was given a new squad and never lost another man while an acting commander." Monroe stood and collected himself. He returned the note to Matty and straightened his decorated suit. "I hope I've been of some help, but everything else I'm sure this whiz over here could find out by digging up old records." He motioned to Riley with a small smile. "I'd rather not speak of moments like that mission again."

"We understand." Matty said respectfully. "Thank you for coming out here to help. We'll be sure to contact you when we find Jack."

"Thank you," Monroe shook hands with her and left the room. Mac waited a moment before rushing out to stop him.

"Sir," he caught the general before he could enter an elevator.

"You said you were MacGyver, correct?"

"Yes sir," this caused the general to chuckle.

"Jack told me about you." The old man's face almost grew warm with the memory. "Not long after he stepped down from Delta, I got in touch and asked him how he liked being a handler to techs like you."

"And?"

"He hated it." The general scoffed. Both men smiled. Mac's eyes wandered to the floor before darting back up to Monroe. "He hated you…but only a few weeks later, when I called to try and get him to come back to work for me, he told me how he couldn't leave. It was because of you." He pointed a fat finger at the young blonde. "I know you know this already." Monroe called another elevator after his moved on. With his finger on the button, and his head down, he said, "Jack has strong protective instincts—it's what made him such a good leader—I knew he'd latch on to anyone stupid enough to put themselves in danger. I don't suppose you do that often?"

"Guilty," Mac nodded.

"I'm sorry, what was your question." He held the door open this time.

"It's okay…it's nothing." Mac stammered, and the general was not one to pry so he gave MacGyver another firm handshake before leaving. He stood there before the closed doors, suddenly feeling a strange wave of optimism, that he'd fine Jack soon, safe.

* * *

Hands chained to a pipe behind him, his shoulder wound plugged up with cloth and duct tape, and the darkness of the old building making it difficult to stay conscious, Jack leaned his head against the metal of the pipe and felt the cold seep into his skull and dampen his memories. He closed his eyes and let the silence take him away to the Sandbox, but then a bucket of frozen water was dumped onto him, sending him back to reality like a bullet. Jack's whole body tensed in the cold, this irritated his bullet wound. He seethed through clenched teeth and looked up at Hanz with strong eyes.

"What do the kids call that now?" He seemed unphased when Jack began to shake with rage, something he mistook for the cold. "I don't know," the man gave up and haphazardly tossed the bucket aside. Jack knocked his head back into the metal piping to try and interrupt his shivering, which was beginning to disturb the wrappings on his wound. Hanz stayed there until the other man controlled himself again, silencing the tremors with strong breaths. "Did you ever know anyone named Roman Reyes?" Hanz spoke from behind his dark shades, as they hid the redness of his eyes. He watched Jack's face contort with silent pain. "Roman was my best friend, and I hated the fact that he went into the Army, and then the Deltas…how the fuck did that happen?!" Hanz lost his composure for a moment as he ran a hand through his hair. "You remember Roman, he was not the brightest man, but he sure was lovable. He was in the wrong place…he shouldn't have been there doing those things…" Hanz was no longer looking at Jack, but when his gaze returned he felt a sudden rush of hatred well up and he was compelled to kick Jack hard in the stomach. The air rushed out of Jack, and he coughed for some time as he tried to reclaim it.

"I _knew_ Roman!" Jack finally yelled. He hung his head down, the chains straining his shoulders behind him, water dripped off his wet hair onto his crossed legs. He gasped. "I loved Roman, the man was like a walking teddy bear." Even now, Jack smiled thinking of him. Hanz did too.

"Yeah, he was."

"I asked him one day why he was with Delta…like you said, he wasn't the type." Jack wheezed, now he had Hanz's attention. "He said that the had people he wanted to protect, he wanted them to be safe, for their families to be safe." Jack heard Hanz's breath shake. "He tried to help those people. We all did." Jack lifted his head, though it felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds, and he looked at Hanz with red rimmed eyes. "But it wasn't my job to help those people, it was my job to keep those boys safe, and I didn't do my job." His own voice cracked. Hanz had to press his lips together, for he couldn't speak without feeling as if he'd lose control of his emotions. So, he walked away and left Jack there in the dark.

He had passed out into a nightmare realm of pain, guilt, and regret. Sometimes the pull his slumping body had on his bullet wound jerked him awake, yet the exhaustion quickly returned him to that evil darkness. It wasn't until another bucket of ice water was dumped on him that he truly woke. Jack reacted the same as the first ice bath instance. Moments passed, and he cursed himself for being so weak to the shock. However, it was Aiden that now stood before him rather than Hanz.

"Good morning, Jack." He said emotionlessly, kneeling in front of his old commander. Jack allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the small building and he soon saw the barbed wire delicately wrapped around the man's gloved hands. "This was the first thing they did to me, after shooting me of course." Aiden began to meticulously tie the barbed wire around Jack's wounded shoulder. Jack struggled to keep himself still, but fear and the frigid cold kept him trembling, poking into the sharp metal, and quickly his left shoulder became a throbbing drum. "They kept it on for months, and I slowly loss use of my left arm." Aiden said. Jack eyed him up as he noticed how little that limb moved. Aiden suddenly finished the knot and then unsheathed a combat knife and staked it into Jack's left thigh right below his hip. Jack gasped and groaned as he blinked away the surprise.

"God damn…" He had to release his raspy breath.

"They stabbed me two months in, but I don't have two months. I'm going to have to accelerate the schedule." Aiden kept the knife there and twisted it around. He watched Jack's face contort in agony and only his eyes flickered with satisfaction. "I wish things could've been different. So many nights I was tied up, only able to wonder what it'd be like to be with my friends and family again. My girlfriend gave up on me, I don't blame her." He yanked the knife out and wiped it on the front of Jack's t-shirt. "She has two little girls with an accountant…good guy."

"If you want to kill me, just do it Aiden. Please," Jack could begin to feel himself growing lightheaded, the familiar warmth of a fever rising up his neck.

"Can't do that Jack." Aiden ran the blade across Jack's chest and slowly added pressure as he went, opening him up ever so slightly. "Everything they did to me, I must do to you." He brought the tip up before the man's face. "An eye for an eye."

Jack stared at the ex-solider. The young man had been so handsome, so serious, so driven. Aiden held himself to nothing but the highest of moral standards; he even kept the other men in line when Jack found himself drawn into the fun. He saw so much hatred and fear now swirling inside the young man's eyes, some scars so deep on his face they looked like canyons. Aiden attacked out of nowhere and pinned Jack back by his throat; he aggravated the barbed wire and the pain swelled up like hornets with black dots blinking before Jack's eyes. "I want to hate you so much more than I do." Aiden growled. "I tried to hard to despise you, tried to make it my reason to live one day after the next, it was difficult…just tell me this, did you think about us?"

"…everyday…" Jack choked out. "How could I ever forget your faces…?"

"It sure looks like you've moved on."

"Trust me, I haven't." Jack was released and felt his lungs fill up with fire as he tried to regain his breath before passing out.

* * *

Mac was staring at the old Delta photos Riley had projecting on the briefing room wall. In his hands he still had Jack's dog tags, and he could see the glint of them in the sun in the pictures before him. Jack looked young, goofy as ever, striking stupid poses with his weapon beside the other soldiers on his team; Mac swiped that photo away and now saw one of Jack's identification photos where he was stern, looking into the camera against a white backdrop, colorful medals decorating his suit jacket and red barrette.

"Any news?" Matty's voice made MacGyver jump. He hid the dog tags in his pocket and turned to face Riley and his boss who just walked in. She looked to Mac who could only shake his head in silence. "Riley, come on, give me something." Matty walked over to where Riley was typing away on her laptop and gazed over her shoulder.

"I'm waiting for a satellite to get into range of the Oregon coordinates to see if there's any sign of Jack. It should be ready in just a few minutes." Riley explained, her black curls falling over tired eyes. Matty felt compelled to force her to rest, but knew it would be resisted, so she just put a hand on her shoulders and complimented her work. "Thanks, Matty," Riley knew her boss was holding back an order for self-care. "Has this ever happened to him before?" Right then, Riley became a little girl with big eyes, looking up at someone and asking for stories of her father. "He's strong enough to handle this…right?"

"Of course, he is." Matty's gaze never broke. "Jack's an expert when it comes to hostage situations, and he's been on both sides of it." As she said this Mac's phone began to ring. It was an unrecognized number.

"Hello," Mac picked it up warily.

"Is this Angus MacGyver?" A male voice questioned.

"Yeah…" Mac tilted his head at Riley and Matty in confusion. "Who's this?"

"I'm not much of anyone anymore." The stranger's voice rumbled. Riley began to record the call and project it on her laptop, so Mac could take his phone away from his ear. "But I used to be Aiden Kimura…" Riley searched the name and threw photos of Aiden onto the larger screen. The three of them turned to the wall and saw a military ID photo of a young Japanese man in the same Delta garb as Jack was on his ID. Then they saw the casual group photo of the squad: where everyone else was posing "silly" off, Aiden adamantly serious as he stood there with his hands crossed behind his back, but another one of the men was leaning on him and throwing him off balance; Aiden couldn't help but crack a small smile in that photograph.

"You're supposed to be dead." Mac said, trying to keep his voice calm while he stared at the young Aiden in the picture, Jack directly to his right in the center.

"That's what Jack thought to." Aiden said. The knot tightened him Mac's stomach as his fear was realized. "He's a lot funnier than he used to be…I remember the first day me and my brothers met him…he was young, but we were all younger. We looked up to him."

"Where is he?" Mac knew the question was obvious, but a wave of anger rushed the words out of him. Aiden was silent, ignoring the question. "We know what happened then. The scouting mission gone bad…you and everyone else were reported MIA." Mac explained, hoping to keep Aiden talking long enough for Riley to trace the call. The other man almost broke out laughing yet caught himself.

"I think that's what hurts me most—Jack lied, to everyone."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not MIA…I'm right here." Aiden grumbled. "You're supposed to be some genius, so figure that out!" Aiden's anger flared, and his words crackled over the phone.

"You're obviously angry but taking it out on Jack isn't going to do you any good." Mac reasoned. Again, there was silence, and then he heard sounds as if someone was splashing in water. He suddenly heard Jack gasping and coughing as he was most likely pulled up from whatever tank he was drowning in. Everyone in the room tensed, for they could only listen to their friend struggle to breath.

"Tell them," Aiden threatened, his voice sounding farther away from the phone. Jack said nothing. "TELL THEM!" Sounds of electricity whirring and Jack writhing and screaming hit them. Riley squeezed her eyes shut and tried to imagine that it wasn't Jack she was hearing, he wasn't in pain. Meanwhile, Mac felt frozen and he felt his own breath escape him. "Stop lying!" Aiden shocked him again until Jack started to scream out to stop.

"I killed them…" He mumbled, trying to stay awake. Aiden took the phone and shoved it against his face. "Mac…" Jack's voice sounded like rocks being ground down.

"Jack," Mac felt his hear twist up. "Hey…" He couldn't think of any other words to say.

"I killed them…I did…" He coughed up blood and water. "They're not MIA…"

"Jack just calm down. We're going to find you." Mac said.

"Don't bother, man…. don't bother…" Jack's voice faded and then the sound of his body hitting the floor came out like a thud. The phone scuffled around before Aiden breathed into it again.

"Stop," Mac hissed. "We're going to find you and you're going to pay for this."

Riley looked up at Mac, surprised and almost scared of his sudden violence.

"There isn't much more you could do to me." Aiden said.

"How are you alive?" Mac questioned, his knuckles subconsciously clenching Jack's dog tags in his pocket.

"Because Jack chose not to shoot me." Aiden paused and then hung up, the familiar burn in his throat grew as tears welled up. He still held the phone next to his ear, silent now. Jack was unconscious and bleeding at his feet, soaking like a wet dog. "Why couldn't you just pull that trigger…?"


	5. Chapter 5

_Jack sat higher up on the ridge with Winni slung over his shoulder and a broken SAT phone in hand. He continued to tweak the device in hopes of picking up a signal, but he continued to fail. Down below the ridge was the rest of his squad, six young men, new Delta Force soldiers: Ethan, Roman, Mikey, Jonah, Aiden, and Sean. Jack couldn't help but chuckle as he watched them bicker over their food rations. While out on a scouting mission to find possible leads for a new organization's hideout, they ran into a young family of herders whose father's leg was broken. It took some debating, but they ultimately decided to escort the family back to their village on the other side of the mountain. Now Jack was left to watch over his team in a territory far out of range while he attempted to call for an evac._

" _It was your idea to help them, so you give up your ration!" Mikey said as he snatched a bag of dried potatoes from Roman's hands; he was taken aback when gentle Roman stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Easy…" Mikey laughed uneasily as Roman pulled him in._

" _Stop it guys." Aiden groaned, though he grinned at the two while he relaxed under the shade of an old pine on the mountainside._

" _You'd think that family could've given us some food or something, as payment." Jonah commented quietly._

" _They didn't have anything to give." Mikey explained. "Which is why we're having this conversation!" He turned his attention back to Roman who still refused to give up his potatoes. "I've never seen you get like this," he was almost challenging him._

" _You've never tried to take my potatoes before." Roman raised an eye brow._

" _Hey, calm down boys!" Jack finally snapped at them as his frustrations with their situation grew._

" _Woah big guy," a new voice forced Jack to spin on his heels behind him. It was Mac._

" _What are you doing here?" Jack suddenly felt disconnected from the world. "You weren't here."_

" _No," Mac said. "And I'm not here now." He stared back at Jack with his mischievous eyes. "So, this is where the mission went bed?" MacGyver's apparition walked over to the ledge beside Jack, so he too could look down at the other squad members."_

" _Yeah…" Jack stared at his feet as it dawned on him what this was, it wasn't real, just a memory._

" _So," Mac turned to him. "What happens next?" Jack became confused as his mind went blank. Then the high pitch whine began to reach his ears, it was almost like a bird._

"… _The mortar…" His eyes went wide as he suddenly recalled. The mortar shell came in from the sky with a deepening whistle accompanying it, and then it hit below the ridge were Jack was standing and sent him flying back into the mountain, pebbles become hot shrapnel scrapping by his face. Smoke filled the air as he rolled down another ridge of the mountain only to come to a halt by slamming into the base of an old tree._

…

" _Get up, Jack." Mac was kneeling beside him._

" _Mac, I can't."_

" _No, you get up here. You go looking for them."_

" _Mac," Jack got up, yet Mac was gone. "I need to find them." Jack limped along the now devastated mountain side, unsure of how long he'd been out. At least he still had Winni with him. "Shit," Jack could feel just how broken his ankle was and it forced him to use his arms to hold him up as he leaned against downed trees and boulders. He made it back to the campsite, but no one was there. "Fuck!" Jack took his sniper off his shoulders and into his arms as he now furiously hobbled to another ridge for a vantage point. He managed to withhold all instincts to scream out for them. They would've looked for him had they been able to. Jack made it to an intact ridge with enough protection from a scraggly bush to hide him while he scanned the terrain through his scope. Quickly, the victorious shouting echoing in the valley below reached his ears, and he followed that and the smoke trail to a makeshift camp down below. "No…" His heart dropped when he saw his men at the mercy of the very terrorists they had been sent out to find. He looked through his scope and saw thirty armed men dancing around his squad as they had their hands tied behind their backs, on their knees and gagged. "God damn it!"_

" _Jack!" At first, he thought it was Mac. "Jack," but when he turned he saw Aiden, all grown up, and then reality rushed into him like he was falling out of a portal._ "Wake up," Aiden said. Jack tried to respond but could only muscle a groan; his head flopped to the side and he struggled to move his body. "You're losing too much blood." Aiden poked the gash across his chest that he gave him a couple of hours before. "Jack, come on!" Something in Jack stirred—it almost sounded like Aiden was worried, so he opened his eyes for the kid. "There you go." Aiden had a large shell casing and lighter in his hand.

"That's right…" Jack mumbled, recalling his torturer. He refused to struggle as Aiden lifted the front of Jack's blood-stained shirt, hooking the fabric up on the barbed wire that still bandaged his shoulder wound. He then unscrewed the bullet and started to pour the gunpowder into the laceration. Jack swallowed, already anticipating the pain, and his throat burned for water. "When did they cauterize you?" He asked. Aiden glanced up at him before returning to the wound.

"Just a couple of weeks in, when they didn't think I could lose any more blood." Without warning, he flicked the lighter and set the gunpower a blaze. It went up like a fuse across the front of Jack's body and filled the room with scent of cooking flesh. Jack thrashed about in his restraints, slamming his shoulder further into the barbed wire in attempts to distract himself from the flames on his chest, and then it was suddenly all over. The gunpowder was burnt out and now nothing was a smoking, grey scar remained across his chest. Aiden pulled the man's shirt back down before grabbed Jack's hair and yanking his head back. "I know MacGyver is coming here." He spoke casually while Jack wheezed before him, fighting through the agony. "Here." Aiden reached into his pocket and took out six dog tags. "They're not lost anymore." He held them up close enough, so Jack's blurring vision could see.

"How?"

"The Hex terrorists just threw them all into a mass grave…I watched…and I burnt that location into my memory, so that when I escaped I could go back there and find them."

"There are six there." Jack huffed.

"Mine is here too." Aiden gently placed them around Jack's neck; it felt as they weighed fifty pounds. "It's not like I didn't know what I was getting into when I signed up for Delta. It's just…" Aiden blinked as he held back a tear, and it forced him to avert his gaze. "I just wish things didn't happen the way it did." Jack couldn't speak. Aiden stood up and walked over to the wall where a bat was resting. "Those terrorists weren't very creative with this one." He finally took the barbed wire off and released Jack from his restraints, though the main could only collapse to his knees. Aiden took a swing of the bat and brought it down onto Jack's back. He grunted and slammed down into the floor where his new cauterized chest burned and screamed. "They knew just how hard to hit to not break a bone, not puncture a lung and put me out of my misery." He swung again, down like an axe, knocking the air out of Jack. "Over and over." Aiden sighed. The metal dog tags jingled with every hit from the bat.

Jack was in Oregon. Not only did Riley find his car parked nearby an abandoned airport, but when she traced the call it too led to that location. Now they were aboard the jet with a handful of trained soldiers from Phoenix. Matty was briefing them alongside Riley who went over the layout of the old airport with blueprints and satellite photos. Meanwhile, Mac sat with Bozer in silence, unable to do anything but wait. Then his phone rang. Bozer's eyes went wide as he watched Mac jump across the seat for his cell.

"Look—" he began before being cut off by Aiden's stern voice.

"MacGyver, I'd imagine by now you're on your way to Oregon?"

"We are."

"Okay, now, if any of those armed soldiers you have with you come near the airport, I'll kill Jack."

"What do you expect us to do then?"

"I want you to meet me on the runway, alone."

"Fine, but Jack better be alive." Mac almost growled.

"Or what, you'll shoot me?" Aiden hung up. So did Mac.

"What'd he say?" Bozer whispered, trying to keep it a secret as Matty would've flipped on them for not notifying her of the call.

"I need to meet him alone." Mac explained.

"Are you insane? You don't negotiate with psychos!"

"He's going to kill Jack if I don't."

"And you trust him?" Bozer gasped.

"No, but Jack's life isn't something I can bargain for." Mac turned to his best friend, pale and fearful. Desperate.

"I know Mac, but this can't be a one-to-one trade." Bozer's voice grew grim. "We all want Jack back but losing you in that process is going to be just as hard." He looked over his shoulder at Matty as she continued the briefing with the four-armed Phoenix agents. "You need to talk to her now, because once this plane lands she's not going to be taking suggestions from anyone." Mac understood and sighed, pushing himself to his feet. He presence beside Riley and Matty went unnoticed for some time.

"Matty," he was forced to speak up. "I need to talk to you."

"Can't it wait, Mac?"

"No," the blonde's tone was enough to send the other away, so he could sit there and speak to her privately. He saw there the fear in her eyes; she was worried about Jack too, they had a strong relationship in their own way. "Aiden called me again." Matty's years of experience helped her understand where this was going before Mac even had to speak further.

"Mac," she tried to stop herself from yelling.

"Matty, I know we don't negotiate with these people, but Jack would do it for any of us. We need to land this plane a safe distance away and I need to meet him on the runway for Jack."

"And you think this guy is just going to hand him back to us without harming either of you? This is a solider who's been MIA for years, and we can't trust his mental state to act rationally now!"

"Please Matty, at least give me a chance to go and make sure Jack is okay."

"Your asking me to send an unarmed agent into a hostage situation where we have no idea how many men are there?" Matty's eyes began to grow soft.

"Yes," Mac held his ground until her boss sighed in defeat.

"You're to keep com's active at all times. I going to have Riley hook up a discrete camera to your front as well."

"Fine."

"I shouldn't have to tell you how bad of an idea this is."

"Trust me, I know."


	6. Chapter 6

They didn't even have the restrains on Jack anymore, for there was no fear of him overpowering them. He slouched back against the cold wall, which sent shivers through his body as the sweat from his fever engulfed him. Jack heard scuffling on the other side of the room and tried to open his eyes to see, but his vision only swarmed before him, his head unable to stay up. He slowly tried to assess the damage to his body; he made his way down and attempted to move each finger, limp, toe—everything responded in one way or another. Jack tried to take in a deep breath to wake himself, but his chest tightened into a knot and burned, forcing him to cringe and cough until it subsided.

"I think your friends are here." Hanz was standing before him, calm and worn. Jack managed to open his eyes long enough to focus on the man.

"Anti-climactic…" Jack mumbled, raising his hands to one of the dog tags on his neck.

"Please, don't try anything, Aiden will make me—" Hanz stammered, but trailed off when he saw Jack removing on of his dog tags.

"Here," his arm was trembling, but he held out the tag with Roman's name hammered into it. "It should be with you." Hanz accepted it and swallowed a ball of emotion. He pocketed the dog tag and then grabbed Jack's arm to help him up.

"Come on, Aiden needs you." The sudden swing up into a standing position made Jack's vision disappear entirely into color dots before his eyes.

 _Jack had been watching for almost five minutes, struggling to figure out a way to save his boys. With no comms and limited ammo, he was going to have to get creative, but then Hex started to have fun with them. This new group was known for its sadistic pleasure in torturing, and without instigation, one man stepped up with a machete and freed Roman from his bonds only to chop off a hand seconds later. Jack seethed as he watched the gentle giant scream and roll in the dirt, blood leaving streak marks on the ground. Next, one walked behind Aiden and placed the muzzle of his gun against his back. Aiden was stoic, refusing to show them the fear they itched to see. The enemy fired anyway, and Aiden collapsed forward on his face, still._

 _Jack had begun crying and he didn't even realize. He could only watch through his scope as another Hex member lit a torch from their bonfire and gathered up a can of gasoline. He slowly poured it on Sean who trembled under the stench of the fuel. The men cheered as the flaming torch was raised like a trophy, then the fire touched Sean's back and he went up like paper. The young man's screams only lasted a second before a bullet went into his skull, putting the kid out of his misery. Everyone in Hex scrambled to find the sniper. Jack sobbed as he moved over to Jonah, shooting him, then Mikey and Roman who was still screaming. When he aimed at Ethan, he saw the man smiling in Jack's direction, peacefully, Jack had to freeze on his face before pulling the trigger, and then he moved to Aiden, but he was still on the ground—Jack presumed he had already died._

" _I'm sorry…" He cried, viciously wiping his tears on his jacket sleeve. "I couldn't think of anything else to do." Jack pulled Winni into his chest and shuddered._

"Hanz, get his attention." Jack had been led across the room and he was now standing before Aiden, who was very much alive. Before Hanz could slap their prisoner out of his memories, Jack responded.

"You can't be letting me go." Jack watched closely has Aiden stood up and pressed a small comm device into Jack's ear, and then one into his own. Winni was shoved into Jack's arms, the force and weight almost bringing him to his knees.

"You're going to take this outside and meet up with your good friend, Mac." Aiden spoke coldly. "Don't do anything until I tell you to."

Jack opened the door of the old office, the stark colors of sunset greeting him as he stepped out onto the dried runway. He couldn't feel his body though he was moving it, he couldn't breath without feeling the burned scar of his chest rip a little, and he couldn't lift his left arm without feeling like it was going to fall off. He walked out further onto the runway yet couldn't see far enough to notice anything or anyone.

"Jack!" Mac's voice echoed to him. Jack stumbled and squinted to try and find his friend; the blonde was jogging up to him, maybe two hundred feet away.

"I want you to make him stop or I'm going to blow out his kneecaps." Aiden spoke through Jack's comm. Jack struggled to take in enough breath to yell out to him.

"Mac, stop!" He tried, but his voice was hoarse and weak. "Stop!" He lifted his left hand just high enough that Mac could see what he was trying to say. He came to a wary halt.

"Jack are you okay?" Mac asked, his eyes zoning in on the blood stains covering his body. Mac wondered why Jack would be allowed to hold his sniper at this meeting. "Where's Aiden?" Jack said nothing and simply waited for more orders.

"Okay Jack," Aiden said. "I want you to shoot him."

"What?" Jack gasped under his breath. "Aiden—"

"Shoot him or I'll shoot his hands off, and then work my way around from there." He hissed. Jack felt his arms tremble as he tried to lift Winni up high enough that he could aim.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Mac froze, holding his hands up as if to block the bullet; he glanced over his shoulder hoping to find Jack aiming at some enemy sneaking up from behind, but there was no one there. Jack was aiming at him.

"What are you waiting for?" Aiden growled in his comm.

"I can't shoot him," Jack was almost in tears seeing Mac's face curved in his sniper's scope. "Just kill me Aiden, please…" Aiden suddenly shot Jack in his left leg right above his knee, and between that, and the knife wound in that leg, Jack collapsed to the ground. He saw Mac instinctively move to come to his aid, but Jack repositioned Winni on him, keeping him at a distance. To the ignorant, Jack simply looked to be kneeling and aiming a gun. "Aiden." Jack pleaded on the rocky asphalt. He watched as Aiden's red laser sight moved onto Mac's right hand.

"Jack, tell me what's going on!" Mac seemed terrified in the dark. "Jack just—" the trigger was pulled. Mac couldn't move. The shoot rang out and echoed against the old buildings.

"Mac, what happened!" Matty was yelling into his comms. Mac couldn't speak. He raised a trembling hand up to his face and touched his cheek. Pulling away, he saw blood on his fingertips. Jack shot him; he grazed him. Mac's body felt light as adrenaline coursed through him. "Mac!" Matty continued to demand as response. "Mac's not responding, send your team in—"

"Matty, I'm okay…" Mac's voice sounded as if he was just visited by a ghost. "Don't send them in." He stared at Jack, who dropped his gun on the ground, making it clatter away from him. Mac saw Jack speaking to someone, so he approached warily. "Jack…" He spoke softly, a strange fear in him made it seem as if he were approaching a wild animal, caught and wounded, cornered. The closer he got the more wounds appeared on Jack: the front of his old tee was covered with blood, his left leg had two visible wounds, sweat and streaks of blood ran down his pale face.

"Aiden," Jack spoke into his comm.

"I don't know if I'm disappointed or not Jack." Aiden responded. "I used to imagine you'd come and save me, everyday I was Hex. I told myself it was crazy sometimes too, but Jack Dalton is a crazy guy, so why can't today be the day he comes storming into the camp to get me?" Aiden had trouble speaking. "I guess sometimes we have to save ourselves…"

"Aiden, I'm sorry…I—"

"I don't hate you Jack, it's just…unfair…" Jack heard another gunshot go off in his comm, the sound of a body and rifle hitting the floor, and then silence.

"…Jack," Mac was reaching a hand out to get his attention. "Where's Aiden?" Jack felt a tear slip as he took the comm out of his ear and threw it on the ground. He felt his breathing rushing out of control, the world was starting to go dark around him, he could hear Mac but couldn't see him through sounds of screams and mortars filling his ears. He felt himself rolling down that mountainside after the bomb hit. He could smell the bonfire from the terrorists burn his nostrils, but then he was falling until something strong caught him. "Jack?!" Mac watched his friend collapse into a panic before passing out. He now held Jack in his arms, suddenly feeling his friend's fever burning his skin. "Hey, come on Jack," Mac gently laid him down on his back, lightly tapping his face hoping to see brown eyes staring back.

"…Mac," Jack came back to him, pupils dilated and breathing labored.

"Matty, I have Jack, we need a medic."

"What about Aiden?"

"He's nowhere to be found." Mac responded, placing two fingers on Jack's neck to begin reading a pulse.

"He's dead, Mac, for real this time." Jack mumbled, trying to push the blonde away from him with his good arm.

"Jack, I need you to calm down, you're going into shock." Mac felt himself beginning to panic as well. He started to take off his belt and tourniquet the fresh bullet wound in Jack's leg. The sudden pressure caused the man to wince and gasp. "I'm sorry, I have to. Matty!"

"We're coming, Mac!" She yelled back.

"I shot you." Jack's eyes struggled to focus on the bullet graze, trickling with blood down MacGyver's face. "Mac…" Jack squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered.

"Jack, it's okay." Mac tried to smile. "I know you, if you wanted to hit me you could've."

"I don't want to shoot you Mac." Jack's voice was starting to slur.

"I know Jack, I know Jack, just stay with me." Mac looked over his shoulder and saw a medical team rushing up, surrounded by the armed agents. The squeaky wheels of the stretcher rolled up next to them and two medics were beside Mac.

"Jack Dalton," one pushed Mac aside and took over trying to get the agent's attention.

"What's his blood type," the other asked MacGyver.

"Uh, O negative." Mac watched as they quickly took Jack's pulse, their faces growing stern. "You need to back up." He was pushed further away as they started to place an oxygen mask on Jack.

"Mac," Bozer, Riley, and Matty ran up to him. "Mac," Bozer had to physically turn the blonde towards him to order to grab his attention. "What happened?"

"I don't really know, I think Aiden was talking to Jack through a comm."

"Where is he?" Matty questioned.

"I don't know. Jack said he was dead."

"What happened?" Riley tentatively touched at the graze on Mac's cheek.

"I—" Mac couldn't tell them now that Jack shot at him. "I'll explain later."

"Shouldn't you be getting him to a hospital?" Bozer was beside the medics.

"We have to make sure he's stable enough to be moved." They said as they began to cut away at Jack's shirt, this brought the ex-Delta commander back to life. With his eyes half closed, Jack started to grab at the medic with the scissors, his right arm compensating for his limp left by locking the medic's wrist into a death grip. The poor medic cringed as he felt his hand twisting in all the wrong directions.

"Jack!" Mac and Riley gasped in unison before Matty knelt beside her agent's head.

"Jack," she spoke calmly, seeing the fear and confusion in Jack's eyes as he stared at a man bent over him with sharp blades. "Let him go," Jack's eyes dashed over to her and then back to the medic who was trying to pry Jack's hand off his. "That's an order." Her voice was steady and demanding; Jack held on for another moment before all energy seemed to leave him, releasing the medic.

"Shit," he rubbed his twisted wrist and handed the scissors over to his partner who finished cutting open Jack's shirt.

"Oh my god, Jack." Matty knelt beside Jack and put a hand on his head when she saw the cauterized gash running from his right shoulder down across his chest to his left hip. Then the medics pulled by the tee sleeve to look at his left shoulder.

"Got a through and through here," one medic poked at it with his gloved hand, making Jack groan beneath the oxygen mask. "Looks infected, there's tearing and puncture wounds around it." Jack mumbled something incoherent to the medics. "What?" The medic pulled the mask back and Jack repeated.

"Barbed wire," he said, beginning to gasp after realizing how much he was previously relying on the supplied oxygen. The mask was placed back on his mouth and the medic re-inspected the wound with that information.

"Okay, let's move him." The gurney was lowered to the ground, and the two medics and some soldiers lifted Jack onto it. He groaned when the bat bruises on his back hit the stretcher. "Come on," the medics wheeled him away. The Phoenix team stood there, dumbfounded as they watched Jack sent away without any warning. Mac swallowed a hard knot before he walked up to Winni and recovered it. It was then, holding that gun, that he realized how much his hands were shaking.

"Mac, come on." Bozer touched his back. "We need to leave," Bozer watched as the remaining soldiers fanned out to search the surrounding buildings. Mac simply nodded and used the strap to hang Winni on his back while he followed.

"This felt too easy." Riley mumbled under her breath while they rushed back to the jet.

"Maybe, but Jack's back. Let's handle one thing at a time." Matty said. "Send another chopper to this location to pick up the tact team when they're down with their sweep." She spoke to one of the other officers waiting beside the landing ramp of the plane.

"Yes ma'am,"

Inside the plane, Riley hovered beside the medics, watching them work on Jack as they tried to keep him stable. Mac, however, sat on the other side with Jack's rifle beside him, his knees up against his chest. Bozer soon joined him in his silence.

"You know, I thought you'd be over there with Riley." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Jack shot me," Mac motioned to the scratch on his face. "I think Aiden told him to." His voice cracked at the thought. "I don't know what he was threatening him with, but he couldn't do it…" Bozer was caught off guard and couldn't find words. "I don't know…I guess I just never thought that'd happen…that'd I'd be on that end of the gun."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I mean, I'll get over it." Mac stammered. He looked up at Jack, at the rise and fall of his chest; Jack's hand was twitching from pain and MacGyver's gaze became locked on that sight. "He's fine…" He whispered. Mac flinched when he heard the medics scrambled to inject Jack with something, hooking him up with a blood bag in the process. Mac rose to his feet and, as if pulled on a string, approached the gurney, crossing the cargo bay of the transport plane. "What's wrong?" His words fell on deaf ears as the men continued to work. "Hey," Mac felt himself growing aggressive.

"We are trying to save this man's life right now. We need you to back off." One medic snapped in his face when the plane hit turbulence, jostling everything in the cargo bay. Jack groaned, cracking one eye open and landing it on Mac, his breathing picked up and his eyes filled with fear. Mac broke through the medics and went up to his side.

"Jack." He could feel the fever radiating off him. Jack's eyes looked tired, weak, and lost. Mac put his hand on Jack's head hoping to help focus him. "I'm here Jack, you're going to a hospital." With a shaking hand, he reached up and pushed his oxygen mask off.

"Mac, what happened there…" He was looking at the gun graze.

"It's okay, barely hurts." Mac sent him a charming smile.

"In Afghanistan…on that mission…Mac, I killed them." Jack's breathing sounded like it was being forced through a straw, and the effort brought him close to passing out.

"Now's not the time Jack."

"Aiden was just trying to right a wrong I did." Jack started coughing.

"You need to leave," one of the medics tried shoving Mac away when Jack managed to control himself.

"Jack, you have to promise me you're going to hang on." Mac kept his friend away by moving his head to look into his eyes. "I don't know what happened there, but you have to promise me!" Jack opened his mouth to respond when his eyes rolled back into his skull and he fell unconscious.

"His heart rate is dropping." The medics this time shoved Mac away to get room as they started compressions.

"Mac," Riley was behind him, tears forming in her eyes. The two took each other into a hug and they tried to drown out the sound of the medics reviving their friend. "He'll be okay, he's Jack." Riley spoke into the blonde's shoulder. As they turned she got another look at him on the gurney, it seemed as if the medics made him stable again. She locked gazes with one of them and he nodded wearily. Riley slowly pulled herself away and approached them. "Thank you," she said respectfully. "What's wrong with him." The two young men were almost taken aback by her, it wasn't often people were sound enough in situations like this to ask rational questions.

"Pneumonia is causing a lot," one sighed. "But there's likely a second infection on top of that, and dehydration is common in hostages."

"Why does it feel like there's more?" She felt that pit in her stomach.

"This is excluding the blood loss from the gun shot wound to his shoulder and leg, the knife wound to his hip, and this…" He sighed and pointed to the cauterized gash. "All of that is simply what we can asses with our eyes. His breathing is labored from the pneumonia most likely, dizziness and weakness from fever and blood loss…"

"He'll make it, right?" She wanted to reach out and grab Jack's hand but was afraid that she'd trigger another emergency.

"Should he, yes, but he's not fighting it well." He said. Riley laughed.

"It's Jack, he's one of the most stubborn people I know." The medic only shrugged.

"I've seen a lot of soldiers from battlefields…sometimes they're just tired of fighting."

"We'll Jack's not one of those people!" Riley too yelled at the medics, her hands balling into fits. Mac wanted to be the one to pull her away, to tell her to calm down, but he too was becoming aggressive. Those medics were wrong. Jack would never give up. Never.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey!" Matty's voice broke through their thoughts. "You two need to step back and let these men do their jobs!" Mac and Riley moved towards her reluctantly. "We're all worried here, but you don't see Bozer or me yelling at the people who are keeping him alive." Mac knew he should've apologized, but instead he just wanted to punch something, an emotion not too common for him. "We're ten minutes for the nearest functioning airstrip, and an ambulance is already waiting there to take Jack to a hospital."

"I'll ride with him." Mac declared.

"You're in no state blondie—"

"I'm Jack's next of kin. I'm riding with him, Matty." He was stern, arms crossed, unwilling to back down. His boss eventually sighed.

"Fine, but you need to see the big picture here, Mac."

"And what's the _big_ _picture_?" Had it been any other situation, that sass would've gotten him a conduct meeting.

"That this is not about how angry or worried you are, but it's about Jack."

"You think I'd put myself above Jack now?" He gasped, throwing a hand out to motion to his unconscious partner.

"Guys don't fight…" Bozer tried to interject himself but failed.

"You're not the only one on this team." Matty narrowed her eyes, her emotions stripping away at her professionalism as she made sure to put Mac in his place. "I know you and Jack are the inseparable duo, but this is a threat that came out of nowhere, someone you didn't even know existed, you couldn't protect him just like the rest of us couldn't, so don't jump right onto your high horse and think that you know what's best for him." Everyone fell silent as those words sunk in; any other day, Mac would've snapped back to sanity with what she said, but now it only fueled him.

"Matty, I can't believe this is what you're choosing to focus on when Jack is lying there, _dying_!"

"Shut up!" Riley shouted, tears running down her face. "Both of you, stop, please…" She took in a shaky breath. "Matty, maybe we should check in with the team at the old airport, see what they found. Bozer, maybe…" She motioned with her eyes to Mac. Matty, meanwhile, realized how she'd been acting to her employee and friend and lowered her gaze in shame. Bozer took his friend's arm and tried to turn him away.

"Mac, I know this is stressful and—"

"I know Bozer, me being angry isn't helping." He ran his hands through his hair, unaware of the dried blond on his fingers. "I just…" Bozer didn't know what else to do, so he simply pulled Mac into a hug and let the blonde wrap him up in his arms like a stress ball. "Thanks man," Mac sighed into his friend's shoulder. Bozer held on as he felt his friend shaking; he became afraid to let go, as if Mac would crumble there on the plane. "Thanks," Mac was the one to pull away and kept himself at arm's length. "I'll be okay,"

"Sure," Bozer almost chuckled at such a blatant lie. "Just know I'm here for you."

"I know." Soon the plane landed like Matty said and Mac practically tripped down the cargo ramp after Jack and the stretcher.

"We'll meet you at the hospital." Bozer called after him as he climbed into the back of the ambulance. Mac made himself small beside Jack, so he wouldn't get in the ways of the medics.

"Is he stable?" Mac asked.

"For now," one said, leaning heavily against the side of the vehicle. He was rubbing his wrist; the one Jack had nearly broken not long ago. "Your friend's strong."

"Yeah," an exhausted chuckle escaped him. "Stronger than he looks."

"And that's pretty damn strong." The same guy mumbled while the other medic handed Mac a small anti-septic wipe.

"For your cheek," he said.

"Thanks," Mac took it and pressed it against the small scrape, twitching at the strong burn. He pulled the cloth away and saw it clouded with small drops of blood. "You were wrong before." He managed to keep his voice level and calm.

"Excuse me," the younger medic, the one with the damaged wrist, snapped.

"When you said Jack was giving up, he's not, he can't. It's just not in his DNA."

"Oh," he scoffed.

"He's just tired." Mac watched his friend's bandaged chest rise and fall.

 _The stars were like candles covering the sky or maybe like the moon's reflection on the ocean, and they were underwater looking up. The EOD tech sat with his back against his supervising officer in the middle of the desert. At that time, he knew he should've been more worried as they waited for an evact, but the simple beauty of being alive kept him content._

" _How are you holding up?" Mac asked, breaking the night's silence like glass._

" _Oh…you know…" Jack sighed, and his voice trailed off. "About as good as a broken leg gets." His southern drawl was always exaggerated when he was tired. "You?"_

" _Same just replace with a broken rib or two." He was about to laugh when the stabbing pain reminded him of the ordeal they'd just escaped. "At least the stars are nice." He looked up again, practically feeling them reflect in his own eyes. Mac even took of his helmet so he could see more._

" _They're a lot like Texas." Jack slumped more against Mac's back, pricking at the younger soldier's busted ribs, but the blonde held in his groans._

" _Jack?" He strained to look over his shoulder as much as he could, but Jack didn't respond. "Jack!" Mac beginning to move stirred him._

" _What?" Jack jumped._

" _Are you okay? Can I check your pulse or something?"_

" _I'm fine…"_

" _I don't have to worry about you all night, do I?" Mac heard Jack's sniper move in his arms as the other man made himself comfy against Mac._

" _No Angus…not my style, I'm just a little tired is all…"_

" _Tired like a mule pulling a house?" Mac mocked pleasantly._

" _Now you're getting me…" Jack finally dozed off—and that's when Mac realized just how comforting his friend's lite snores were._

But Jack wasn't snoring now, not unless you considered scratchy, weak breaths snoring. Mac heard the driver mention they were only two minutes from the hospital, and it was then that he felt the dog tag move in his pocket. He pulled it out like a mystical item and read Jack's name on it. Getting lost in the worn metal, he missed the older medic pulling out five other dog tags. The jingling is what caught Mac's attention.

"They were on him before, at the airport." The man said, holding them out to Mac. "I'm assuming you'd want to take them." MacGyver accepted them, unsure of what else to say, and he began to read through each one. He recognized Ethan's name because of the incident with his younger brother and then mac recognized Aiden's name. Jack had said he was dead. He said they were all dead. Mac looked up at Jack's face as it was contorted in pain. He said he had killed them. The ambulance came to a halt and everyone inside swayed off balance. The doors then swung open and fresh doctors where there scrambling to pull Jack's gurney out. Mac heard the two medics with him fall into a barrage of medical lingo as they poured out the back of the vehicle. Mac had to pocket all the dog tags to chase after them. He felt like a ghost behind the team of professionals surrounding Jack and leading him into surgery, but then a nurse blocked his path like a wall.

"Sir," she spoke with a clipboard pushing against Mac's chest to keep him at bay. "Excuse me sir," she strained, finally getting the blonde's attention even if it was through annoyed glares. "I need to get some information."

"Fine whatever," Mac felt his heart racing as Jack disappeared down the hallway.

"—his name, sir." She was snapping at him as if she had been trying to get that answer out of Mac for a whole minute.

"Uh, Jack Wyatt Dalton. I'm Angus MacGyver, his next of kin."

"Any allergies or previous injuries we should know about?" She scribbled onto her clipboard.

"Is this really important now?" Mac groaned. The young woman's eyes told him: yes. "He's not allergic to anything and he's a veteran so tons of old injuries."

"He's not on any kind of medication now?"

"No."

"Has he been out of the country recently?" She asked. Mac thought back to their recent trip to Nicaragua.

"For work, yes." He cleared his throat. "We're always vaccinated."

"I suppose that's enough for now." She sighed. "Please follow me to the waiting room."

"How long is it going to take?" He was struggling not to run around the nurse at the pace she was moving.

"As long as it takes for the doctors to fix him." She had led him to an empty, white room with potted plants and magazines beside stiff chairs. "Someone will be here to inform you when there's more news."

"Thank you," Mac caught her before she left, releasing his stress in one long breath.

"I hope he's okay." She said blankly before leaving, obviously a common phrase muttered by the staff in any hospital. And like that, Mac's world slowed, and he was alone in a silent cage. He sat by the door to the surgical rooms, hoping he could listen in on the procedure, but the rooms themselves were situated down another hallway. It felt like a dream there—a nightmare where you can't move or speak coherently, where everything around you feels like ghost waiting for you to look its way. Mac had his face in his hands, elbows on his knees, and he felt a migraine bubbling up behind his eyes.

"Mac," Matty's voice was before him, soft. He looked up, the movement and bright lights above him stabbing at his eyes. "Here," she handed him a small coffee like a peace offering. "Any news?" She asked, glancing around at the empty room. Mac stared down at the drink and tried to figure out just how much time had passed since he sat down; he couldn't figure out how long. "Mac?" Matty put her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah…" He blinked his confusion away. "Um, nothing, they haven't said anything." His eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lights and finally saw Riley and Bozer sitting on the other side of Matty. She simply pressed her lips together and nodded. Mac drank some of his coffee while shifting around in the hard chair, feeling his back crack. "Matty, I'm sorry." He turned to his boss who held nothing but sympathy on her features. "I shouldn't have yelled back there."

"I'm sorry to Mac, we were all acting emotional."

"That Aiden guy, did the agents ever find him?" Mac's voice wavered as he thought of Aiden tracking Jack to this hospital and finishing the job.

"Now's not the time for that." She whispered.

"What if he finds Jack again?" Mac was getting anxious at the thought; he could feel his heart racing or maybe that was the coffee.

"I will get agents here to protect him, Mac, I—" she was cut off when she saw a doctor waiting for them in green scrubs. MacGyver shot up and ran to the man, and he was soon surrounded by everyone else.

"You're all here for Jack Dalton?" The man asked.

"Yeah." Mac breathed.

"I'm Dr. Turk," he started slowly. "You should know that he's stable, and in the ICU know."

"What happened?" Riley stammered, her hair a nest of messy curls and knots tied behind her.

"There was the bullet wound to his shoulder, now that itself didn't cause any major damage, but the tearing around it ripped into some tissue and ligaments. He'll need physical therapy for it. I also saw a lot of wear around the joint…"

"He uh, dislocates that shoulder a lot." Mac explained.

"Okay, well there was also a stab wound by his left hip which we're lucky it missed a major artery." Dr. Turk sighed as he felt the weight of every injury bearing down on this group before him. "He lost blood to the bullet wound to his leg…and then there's the wound to his chest that was cauterized…he's in no condition for us to deal with the burnt skin there, right now we have to deal with his infections and wait for him to regain some of his strength, but he's going to be in the good care of Dr. Dorian while in the ICU."

"Chocolate bear!" Another young doctor with styled black hair and peach fuzz on his chin walked by the room and called out to the black surgeon before the Phoenix team.

"JD, I'm with a family!" Turk's voice rose into a falsetto as he lectured his friend with a sharp hiss.

"Oh sorry," Dr. Dorian gave them a sympathetic wave. "Turk's a wonderful doctor, I'm sure whoever you know is just fine." He said, bashful for his friend.

"JD!" Turk's voice pierced everyone's ears.

"Okay, okay, I'll go keep your seat warm at cafeteria table." JD nodded and walked away.

"Sorry about that." Dr. Turk cleared his throat until his voice returned to its normal low. "That's actually your friend's doctor." The Phoenix group was silent until Matty's attitude broke through.

"I need to speak with your boss!"

* * *

Mac was alone in Jack's room. A blonde doctor had come up to them before they could enter and informed them that until Jack was stable they didn't want anyone there. There had to be room for the nurses and doctors to get in—was another excuse she gave. Riley and Bozer had gone to a more comfortable sitting room while Matty stormed off to find the chief of medicine to complain about the lack of professionalism on staff, which left Mac to sneak into Jack's room anyway. He wasn't trying to hide; he dragged a chair up right beside Jack's bed and was resting his arms on the mattress. They had Jack's left arm in a sling, a tube wrapping around his ears and nose for oxygen, and sterile bandages covered his whole chest, shoulder, and leg beneath the covers.

"Hey, I told him he can't be in there," the same blonde doctor from before had just walked by and saw Mac from the corner of her eye.

"Easy, Eliot." A nurse calmed her.

"Carla, I can't stand people not taking me seriously here…maybe it's this new shirt?" Eliot adjusted her top and Carla locked eyes on the necklace in Mac's hand. She eased her friend away.

"I'll deal with this, you go change or something." Shooing her away, she silently stepped into the room and watched how the young blonde anxiously turned the metal in his hands, how he couldn't look up at his friend in the bed for more than seconds at a time. She had been here long enough to know what fear looked like, the fear of losing someone close to you. "Is he your brother?" She had her hands together in front of her and tried to keep her voice low to not startle him. Mac jumped any way, his knuckles going white around the dog tag. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She smiled warmly. "I'm Carla."

"Mac," he sat back down and collected himself. "If I tell you he's not my brother, are you going to kick me out?"

"No," Carla spoke sincerely, taking quiet pride in her ability to reach out to her patients.

"Cause he's not, at least not biologically."

"Is that a rosary?" She took a step closer, holding her hands behind her back to no seem intrusive.

"Not quite," Mac almost chuckled. He held up the dog tag, so she could see. "He used to never take this off." Mac's voice broke and he leaned his elbows into the side of the bed again, exhaustion almost forcing him to pass out.

"I know it's not necessarily procedure for nurses to give out what may be false hope, but…Mac?" She got his attention again. His blue eyes looked up at her, blonde hair disheveled and sweaty. "My husband's the one who did your friend's surgery."

"He said everything was okay…" Mac looked as if more bad news would simply shatter him.

"No, no, no…It is," She cooed like a mother. "He, well, he told me about the surgery. Turk said when he walked into the room and saw all the blood, well he was scared. No doctor ever wants to lose anyone, but he said before they put him under he woke up and looked at Turk." Carla watched Mac turn to the patient with a weak grin. "He looked at Turk and said, 'it's going to be alright.'" Carla was getting emotional imagining what that was like for her husband. "The patient was telling his _doctor_ that everything was going to be okay…" She was almost laughing hearing how that sounded coming out of her mouth. "Your friend told Turk that he wasn't going to die now. There were some close calls during surgery, but he's still here."

"Did he say anything else?" Mac croaked, unable to take his eyes off Jack.

"He mentioned something about his kid." Carla said, her voice growing solemn at the thought of leaving her own child. "Is that you?" This made Mac laugh.

"Sort of. Can I put this on him, please?" He looked up at her, almost seeming like a lost kid there. The dog tag was in his hands.

"Sure," Carla helped Mac put the dog tag around Jack's neck, maneuvering through the tubes and wires. "What's his name?"

"Jack,"

"Well, Jack has a good doctor. He'll be here soon." She turned to leave.

"When's he going to wake up?" Mac asked. Carla turned to look back at him and saw Mac holding Jack's hand with his own, trembling.

"Sometimes a couple hours, sometimes a day." She said. Mac said nothing in return, so she let them be. On the way out of the room, she passed Jack's doctor, JD. "Bambi," she stopped him. "Be gentle with him, Mac, your patient's friend."

"Everything okay?" JD investigated the room from the hallway.

"He's really worried. I think they're war buddies or something; a real heart breaker, so it's right up your alley." Carla gave him the scoop. JD cracked his neck as if he were going into basketball game.

"Don't worry, I'm in the zone now." JD slipped into the room and spoke in his gentle, yet respect-demanded doctor voice. "Hello, Mac was it? I'm Dr. Dorian, I'll be Mr. Dalton's doctor." JD pulled his patient's chart off the end of the bed.

"I know, we met before." Had Mac been less exhausted, he may have been able to crack a smile at the whimsical doctor.

"That's right," JD froze. "I'm sorry about that, I promise, I'm a very good doctor." He trailed off as he took in Jack's chart. Without saying another word, he placed it on the bed and began to listen to Jack's heart. Then, he placed his hand on Jack's head forehead to gauge the man's fever. "Very scientific, I know." He joked to lighten the mood when he saw Mac watching him like a predator. He put his stethoscope back around his neck. "I'm not liking this fever," he began to take notes on the chart. "I'm going to give him some doses of—"

"Jack!" Mac jumped to his feet and leaned over Jack as he began to wake up. JD threw the chart aside and took out a small flashlight.

"Jack," he spoke more calmly than the blonde, hoping to get his patient to focus. Jack groaned and fought against the lights in the room. "Can you hear me?" JD was trying to read his heart rate off the monitors.

"Jack!" Mac shouted, snapping Jack out of his feverish trance. He cracked open his eyes. MacGyver reached out to hold Jack when Carla was suddenly there pulling him away. "Hey, get off me!" He squirmed, shocked how weak he was against the nurse.

"Let JD do his job." She pleaded, trying to hold the young man by the door. Jack grew more confused and resisted Dr. Dorian's attempt to reason him. Soon he reached out with his good arm and, much like the young medic from before, took the doctor hostage. His fingers found the loose cloth of the front of his scrubs and, with delirious strength, yanked JD onto his knees and up by his throat.

"Carla, sedative…" JD struggled to speak as he shook with fear.

"No!" Mac yelled. "Don't put him under again," he pushed himself off Carla and fell forward, hard into the chair. "Jack, please," he pulled himself up to Jack's left side and reached across him to the hand holding the doctor. "You're okay Jack, I promise." He managed to lock eyes with him and Jack released JD who fell back like rag doll.

"Mac…" Jack mumbled, grabbing onto Mac's shoulder to keep himself grounded. His eyes darted around to all the strange sights and faces in the room. "What's going on?" He groaned in his southern drawl, tensing in pain.

"You're in a hospital." Mac couldn't help but break out into a smile. "And you keep attacking people trying to help, you oaf."

"Hey now…" Jack's voice cracked, dry. "You know I don't like being called that." He leaned back into the hospital pillow and closed his eyes.

"Mr. Dalton…" JD was back on his feet and fixing his scrubs. Warily, he leaned into the patient. "Can you stay awake for me?"

"Of course, I wasn't sleeping, just resting my eyes is all." He reluctantly opened them. The doctor checked the dilation of his pupils with his small flashlight.

"How much pain are you in?"

"On a normal person scale or on a Jack Dalton scale?" Jack grinned.

"I guess a Jack Dalton scale." JD even smiled, pleased that the patient was so lively.

"Maybe a seven. If I'm being honest, I can't remember much." He said. Mac flinched as a wave of joy rushed through him. Jack forgot the ordeal; the memories that brought him to run away and leave his family, maybe he was finally free of them.

"You've been through a lot, but we need you to rest now. You still have a lot of recovery to do." JD explained.

"What else is new." He groaned, falling back asleep.

"Jack," Mac moved to wake him when Carla put a hand on his arm.

"Let him rest, we'll watch him for you." She said, but those words didn't sit well with MacGyver. They were supposed to watch out for each other, they had to.

* * *

 **Sorry if this broke the previous tone of the story. For some reason I couldn't resist indulging my Scrubs side, hopefully for those who have seen the show enjoyed their appearance, and for those who have no idea who these characters are go watch the show Scrubs, you will not be disappointed. They wont be as prevalent in the next chapters, it'll be back to more Mac and Jack, I just had to get it out of my system.**

 **Thanks!**


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